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Hello Ehimwenma Aimiuwu , my name is Briana Clemmons and I am currently an 11th grade student at Peekskill High School in Peekskill , NY. My African Diaspora class watched CNN's Black In America documentary and then read your article "A Documentary in Need of a Solution". I agree with your theory that Soledad O' Brien's documentary is in need for a solution. I knew that being black in America was struggle but I didn't know how horrific the black society was. I also agree with the fact that you said in your article that you seen sexism within the documentary because there was negative connotations towards the black man being unintelligent and not being a strong foundation for the black women and their children.
But what I don't agree with is the part in your article when you stated the quote, "Also, Black men hate school and would rather sell drugs than get a job." I don't agree with that statement because there's a couple of young black men that loves to read and actually wants to make something of themselves. The real problem is that there isn't enough black men the wants education.
Overall, your article has great solutions to "Black in America" and I appreciate the fact that you really care about the black society. |
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To: CNN, Dr. Dennis Kimbro, Dr. Cornel West, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Dr. Roland Fryer, Bishop T. D. Jakes, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, and Soledad O'Brien I would like to thank CNN for making an attempt to show the world the conditions of what it is to be Black in the United States. After watching four hours of the documentary, I am sure that a lot of people enjoyed it because it genuinely addressed the main problems of Black America, but it did not address the solution to the problems. To every folklore or story, there is a moral to it. It is the duty of the storyteller to leave the audience with a moral to the story no matter the variation of opinions each member of the audience will leave with. This is where the audience needs to be served the most, not just the story. Many Americans know that many Black problems stem from fatherless homes, teenage pregnancy, high drop-out rates, drugs, incarcerations, poor health care, and low income just to mention a few. The documentary showed all these problems, but did not give a reasonable solution to even out the socio-economic disparities between Blacks and Whites in America or how to simply improve the social-economic conditions of Blacks. Instead of solutions, I saw sexism towards the Black man. He is the reason why Black women could not find him to marry because he is not sophisticated enough to spell, work in corporate America, and is insecure of his low income. It showed Black men to be so irresponsible that they forget their son’s birthday, which is taking place in their mother’s house, and have many children with many women. Also, Black men hate school and would rather sell drugs than get a job. They did protected the women and never ask the women why they were having babies for many different men or why a single mother should be with five children. Like the intellectuals and guests in the documentary pointed out, Black American problems are based upon poor education and low income. CNN did not stress that the purpose of Black slavery in the United States was to use Blacks legally as free or cheap labor to generate wealth for White America. Slavery only stopped when they realized that it was more productive and profitable to pay a slave a little wage for encouragement than to maintain him in bondage. So to maintain White American wealth, despite time, civil rights, and affirmative action, it was necessary to keep the descendants of the slave as legal cheap or free laborers. This is the purpose of incarceration, unfair drug (crack) laws, the welfare system, high unemployment, police brutality, and racial profiling. This is what leads to inferiority complex, frustration, bad health, single parent homes, drugs, low incomes, and not to mention that Blacks are the last to get hired and the first to get laid-off or fired at work. The question is how do we get the rest of the nation and the world to understand the conditions of the Black race, like the feminists, gays, and Jews have done successfully, and encourage the masses to pressurize their governments and judicial systems to address the Black dilemma adequately. This is the purpose of cultural or social documentaries. To make non-members of a group willingly carry the cross for another in all walks of life. This is what Black American scholars, the media, and political leaders are not achieving. |
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We all agree from the documentary that adequate education and better source of income for Blacks can effectively and efficiently break the spiritual shackles of slavery that has kept Blacks as free and cheap labors for over four hundred years, even to other minority groups and immigrants. I must also add that this is also possible because of the way United States laws are written and can still be referenced no matter how old and unjust they are towards Blacks. Many towns, cities, and counties still use lots of “old slave laws” against Blacks everyday in their courtrooms to tarnish their social records and make it almost impossible to gain a descent wage or even turn them to a life of crime. This is what other minorities and immigrants do not have to worry about because the law was never written against them specifically. They even have a better chance of improving their already established educational culture and getting better jobs than the descendants of free and cheap laborers of the United States. For many Blacks, education becomes secondary when the constant and daily effort to rise above an ancient judicial system that births low income becomes the main occupation for survival. After all, food, health, and shelter come before education. The purpose of this documentary should have been to not only educate non-Blacks about the effect of slavery on Black America after 400 years with the help of the judicial system, but always to win the support and eliminate the apathy of other races towards our plight. This documentary did not achieve this necessity. If America is truly interested in a free, just, and equal society that it claims to be, it must allow the descendants of the free and cheap laborers of over 400 years have free access to college education for the next 100 years. This must also include the cancellation and reimbursement of the school loans of all surviving Blacks to date. This free college education should be a compensation for their legalized social setback and will give them the opportunity to acquire the knowledge that they were deprived off for so long. It will also give them a better chance to compete for descent paying jobs and a better understanding on how to create businesses for themselves. This effort to even out the socio-economic disparity in America will only be effective if all of America speak out against the “old slave laws” that empower the legal system against Blacks and demand that these laws be abolished. |
